Hybrid frequency compensation network

ABSTRACT

Hybrid frequency compensation is provided. Hybrid circuits are used to subtract the transmit signal from the receive signal in a full duplex communication system. Since the hybrid circuit and the main line driver are exposed to different loads, accurate subtraction is difficult to achieve. A frequency dependent network is used to match the loading seen by the driver and the hybrid. The compensation network can be based on active and/or passive components.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of pending U.S. application Ser. No.12/284,773, filed Sep. 24, 2008, which application is a continuation ofU.S. application Ser. No. 12/012,826 filed Feb. 5, 2008 and nowabandoned, which application claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication 60/900,180 filed Feb. 7, 2007. These applications areincorporated herein by reference, in their entirety, for any purpose.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to communication systems. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to hybrid frequencycompensation network.

BACKGROUND

Hybrid circuits are used to subtract the transmit signal from thereceive signal in a full duplex communication system. Since the Hybridcircuit and the main line driver are exposed to different loads,accurate subtraction over signal frequency is difficult to achieve.Prior developments have focused on matching edges (rise/fall times) withresistive trimming or lowpass filtering to obtain good subtraction byedge matching or had off chip compensation networks.

SUMMARY

Examples of the invention use a frequency dependent network in theHybrid that matches, as closely as possible, the loading seen by thedriver and the Hybrid. Trimming can make the compensation network morerobust. The compensation network can be designed based on active and/orpassive components. The trimming of the compensation network can be doneduring startup calibration or wafer sort. It does not require off-chipcomponents and does not attenuate the signal by lowpass filtering.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a driver, hybrid, and frequencycompensation network in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows the Driver, Hybrid, and Frequency Compensation Network(FCN). The Driver consists of a buffer 105 that is capable of drivingZload 107. The transmitted signal is accordingly provided at a node 108.Note that the node 108 may also receive a receive signal from the load107. A replica buffer 109 provides a replica of the transmitted signalat node ‘B’ so that a summer 111 may subtract the transmitted signalfrom the received signal, both of which may be present at the node 108.The receive signal may then be sent to the receiver, as shown. Thereceive data shares the same pins as the transmit buffer schematicallyshown as node 108. The replica buffer 109 and Frequency CompensationNetwork 113 act to provide accurate subtraction of the transmitted data.The accuracy of the subtraction depends on how well the main Driver andReplica circuits match as well as how well the loading of the Driver andthe replica match. An example implementation of the frequencycompensation network 113 is shown in FIG. 1 using capacitor 115,adjustable resistor 117, and adjustable capacitor 119.

The Driver 105 will experience loading due to resistances, capacitancesand Inductances. The frequency compensation network 113 accordingly mustprovide an equivalent load to the Hybrid if the transmit signal is to besubtracted from the received signal accurately across the useable signalbandwidth. A combination of active and/or passive devices can beutilized to minimize the error. The error refers to that portion of thetransmit signal that is not effectively removed from the received data.Effectively, the FCN shapes the Hybrid response to equal the transmitresponse.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of the presentinvention. An implementation of the load 107 of FIG. 1 is shownschematically as inductors and resistors 205. A differentialimplementation of the driver 105 of FIG. 1 is shown schematically inFIG. 2 as including transistors 207 and 208 as one end of thedifferential circuit. The nodes TXP and TXN of FIG. 2 may correspond tothe node 108 of FIG. 1. An adjustable RC network 210 is also shown inFIG. 2, which may be used to implement all or a portion of the frequencycompensation network 113 of FIG. 1. A buffer replica shown in FIG. 2 mayinclude the transistors 212 and 213, which may be half of a differentialimplementation of the buffer replica 109 of FIG. 1.

Accordingly, a transmit and receive signal may be present at node 218. Acompensated version of these signals may be provided through the network210 to the node 215. The transistors 212 and 213 may provide acomplementary version of the transmit signal, as they pertain to theopposite end of the differential circuit. Accordingly, the signal atnode 215 may be substantially equal to the receive signal.

As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, various changes,substitutions, and alterations could be made or otherwise implementedwithout departing from the principles of the present invention.Accordingly, the examples and drawings disclosed herein including theappendix are for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments ofthe present invention and are not to be construed as limiting theinvention.

1. A method for separating a receive signal from a hybrid signal, themethod comprising: receiving the hybrid signal, wherein the hybridsignal includes the receive signal received through a load and atransmit signal received for transmission through the load; generatingan approximation of the transmit signal, wherein said generatingincludes adjusting a frequency content of the approximation based, atleast in part, on an impedance of the load; and subtracting theapproximation of the transmit signal from the hybrid signal, at least inpart, to yield the receive signal.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid adjusting is implemented on a same integrated circuit chip as saidsubtracting.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said adjusting comprisesselecting a value for a variable impedance element of a load replica. 4.The method of claim 3, wherein the value is selected to equal animpedance of the load.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the variableimpedance element comprises a capacitor or a resistor.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said adjusting occurs during a wafer sort process. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein said adjusting occurs during acalibration process, and wherein the receive signal is known.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the transmit signal is generated, at least inpart, by a driver circuit, and wherein said generating comprisesreplicating an operation of the driver circuit.
 9. The method of claim1, wherein the transmit signal is based, at least in part, on an inputsignal provided to a driver circuit, and wherein said generatingcomprises providing the input signal to a replica driver circuit. 10.The method of claim 9, wherein the input signal is differential andcomprises a first input signal and a second input signal, wherein thedriver circuit comprises a first driver and a second driver, and whereinthe first driver is configured to receive the first input signal and thesecond driver is configured to receive the second input signal.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the replica driver circuit comprises a firstreplica circuit configured to receive the first input signal and asecond replica circuit configured to receive the second input signal.12. A method, comprising: receiving a hybrid signal comprising atransmit signal and a receive signal; adjusting the transmit signalbased, at least in part, on a loading of a driver to provide a replicasignal; and subtracting the replica signal from the hybrid signal toprovide the receive signal.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein saidadjusting occurs during a wafer sort process.
 14. The method of claim12, wherein said adjusting occurs during a startup calibration.
 15. Themethod of claim 12, wherein said adjusting comprises: receiving thetransmit signal at a replica driver; and replicating an operation of thedriver with the replica driver to provide the replica signal.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the replica driver is coupled to a replicaload having a loading based, at least in part, on the loading of thedriver.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the replica load comprisesan active device.
 18. The method of claim 12, wherein the hybrid signalis a differential signal comprising a first input signal and a secondinput signal.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the driver isconfigured to buffer the differential input signal, wherein the drivercomprises a first driver and a second driver, wherein the first driveris configured to receive the first input signal and the second driver isconfigured to receive the second input signal, and wherein at least oneof the first or second driver comprises a transistor further configuredto receive at least one of the first or second input signals at a gateterminal.
 20. The method of claim 12, wherein said subtracting comprisesproviding the hybrid signal and the replica signal to a combiner. 21.The method of claim 12, wherein the replica load comprises a passivedevice.